Spring Orphans, B&W Edition

Before the last of Spring disappears, I’ll post some of my favorite images that didn’t quite find a home in previous posts. All of them have two things in common: all of them were taken in the South and all of them are minus the usual color palette because I liked them better this way.

There’s just something about the shapes of the leaves and the trees in this shot that looks so much better in mono than in color. It’s also a tribute to Sally Mann, a photographer whose Southern landscapes work has inspired me. There’s something about her images that is haunting and yet inviting, and I aspire to get to that level as I work on my skills and composition.

This octopus tree at Huntington Beach State Park is amazing in its complexity. It’s all one tree, just with the trunk horizontal, and the branches grew up from that one trunk. It was fun to walk through all thos big branches and search for the best way to capture the unique beauty of this tree.

An overcast afternoon on the lake gave me reason to work with post-processing in Lightroom to ensure I didn’t blow out the clouds or lose the clarity of the reflection of them off the water. It’s a bit darker than the others but I like how it conveys a mood.

There was just somthing about this bridge that made me grab my point-and-shoot camera and click away as I drove over it. I think it’s because there are lots of these bridges, easy to put up, like giant erector sets, and the construction ends up being very symmetrical and pleasing to the eye. This particular bridge is on Route 15 as it crosses the Potomac River, which serves as the border between Virginia and Maryland.

And now my spring cleaning is done (well, at least the photo version of it), so it’s all hands on deck for summer fun and photography!